When it comes to home electricity, I've long been a proponent of alternative forms of energy production- something we now know as "green" energy. Large-scale political and environmental arguments aside, I simply thought the idea of being self-sufficient was, well, kinda neat. I used to dream about having my own windmill or solar panel (and I don't think I'm alone in this fantasy) but the reality of actually doing this was (and still is) extremely cost prohibitive. Last I heard the payback on a fully solar-powered home in my area was around one-hundred years, and a windmill - also not cheap - doesn't exactly fit into the urban street scape.
So what's a person to do?
Happy days everybody! Several clever enterprises have sprung up that offer 100% "green" energy delivered right to your home in lieu of that dirty fossil or nuclear stuff. As an electricity consumer you now have the choice of signing on with a utility that promises by contract to ship you nothing but clean electricity. No need to purchase a windmill or waterfall, the "green" utility does that for you. Your appliances will love you.
Two of the windmills pictured above provide just such power. The one in the background sends its power into the "dirty" grid while the other two merrily supply the "clean" grid. The windmill in the background is a slave to Hydro One, while the other two are under exclusive contract to a private "green" utility.
I bet you didn't even know that there are two electricity grids.
Here is where it gets a bit fuzzy in terms of "green" and "dirty". There aren't two grids. All three wind turbines pictured above pump their power into the Hydro One grid. The same grid that transmits nuke, coal, hydro, and gas power. There is only one grid, full stop. Your traditional utility charges you just over 5 cents per KWH to consume electricity from this grid. The green utility charges in excess of 9 cents per KWH for the same power from the same grid. And you still get to pay all the usual Hydro One debt retirement charges as well. Oh joy!!
This is where I get a little political....
While I applaud these green utilities for promoting and selling the idea of clean energy, the whole affair seems a little fake. In fact, it is entirely artificial. Aside from badly informed bragging rights, why on earth would I pay almost twice the money to a middle-man for the same power I already get from my local utility? It is virtual energy and nothing more. A nice idea.
One might argue that private investors wouldn't be erecting giant wind turbines if not for the niche market invented by the green utilities. I tend to agree but insist that private investors shouldn't have to build this kind of infrastructure in the first place. This is what our government is for. This is what our gigantic provincial utility is for. This is what our collective environmental conscience is for. This is NOT what our distinct social classes are for.
Although a rarity, on this issue I say stop voting with your money and use your pitchfork instead. Don't buy this premium "green" energy. Tell your government you want windmills and solar farms to produce your power instead of new nuclear plants. Tell them you want this power to come to your home affordably rather than marked-up as a premium product. Tell them this without artificially inflating the price of electricity. Your toaster won't know the difference.
Form your own opinion:
http://www.bullfrogpower.com/about/about.cfm
http://www.skygeneration.com/projects.html
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